RuPaul Andre Charles

RuPaul’s Drag Race & AJ and the Queen

RuPaul Charles is an actor, model, singer, songwriter, television personality, and author. Since 2009, he has executive produced and hosted the reality competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race, for which he has received five Primetime Emmy Awards. RuPaul is the most commercially successful drag queen of all time, and in 2017, he was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

RuPaul was born and raised in San Diego, and later moved to Atlanta to study performing arts. He settled in New York City where he became a popular fixture on the nightclub scene. RuPaul achieved international fame with the release of the single “Supermodel (You Better Work),” which was included on his debut album, Supermodel of the World (1993).

In 1995, he became the first spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, raising millions of dollars for the MAC AIDS Fund and becoming the first man to land a major cosmetics campaign. In 1996, RuPaul landed a TV talk show on VH1, The RuPaul Show, taping over 100 episodes with cohost Michelle Visage, while simultaneously cohosting a morning drive radio show on WKTU, also with Visage. Currently, RuPaul hosts a weekly podcast, called “RuPaul: What’s the Tee?” with Visage. As a recording artist, RuPaul has cowritten and coproduced 15 studio albums to date, including Foxy Lady (1996), Champion (2009), Glamazon (2011), Born Naked (2014), and American (2017).

RuPaul’s Drag Race has produced 12 seasons and has inspired several spin-off series, including RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK and RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars. RuPaul was also featured as a host on the series Skin Wars: Fresh Paint, Good Work, Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul, and as a judge for CBS’s global competition series The World’s Best.

As an actor, RuPaul has appeared in over 50 films and television shows both in and out of drag. Most recently, RuPaul has teamed up with Michael Patrick King (Sex in the City, 2 Broke Girls) to produce the Netflix original comedy series AJ and the Queen, in which RuPaul will also star.

As an author, RuPaul has published three books: GuRu (Harper Collins, 2018), Workin’ It! RuPaul’s Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style (Harper Collins, 2010), and Lettin’ It All Hang Out (Hyperion Books, 1995).

RuPaul splits his time between New York, California, and Wyoming. He is married to Australian rancher Georges LeBar, whom he met on the dance floor in 1994 at the Limelight nightclub in New York City.